Children of Men

When I first watched Alfonso Cuaron’s  Children of Men (2006) I felt like I was having an anxiety attack for most of the film. This isn’t meant to be negative; in fact, it is actually a good thing! I found myself telling people afterwards about my experience and reasons why they should see it, using the word “anxiety” as a convincing term. Normally people would take that as an unpleasant feeling, but the thing is, this was just a way to get across just how real the film feels. Yes, I felt nervous and a bit stressed while watching, but that is part of the experience. Cuaron (Y tu mama tambien, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and his team (with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki- Y tu mama tambien, Sleepy Hollow) created a film that really made you forget that you were even watching a movie at all. The cinematography, art direction, sound, editing, and acting all come together to effectively take you on a thrilling journey through a dystopian world and leave you to think about today’s society.

The story starts in London, year 2027. We hear what is going on before we see it- a news report of the death of the youngest person on the planet-an 18 year old boy, Diego. For 18 years women have been infertile and the world is now in turmoil but we are reminded through public service announcements that “Only Britain soldiers on.” Great Britain is at war with immigrants seeking refuge in their land. An activist group fighting for Immigrant rights, the Fishes, led by Julian (Julianne Moore) kidnaps Theo (Clive Owen) to help them get transit papers for a young refugee, Kee. Theo (who has history with Julian as his ex-wife; they lost a child together) reluctantly agrees to ask his cousin Nigel, who is with the government, to obtain the papers. The papers specifically state that he must accompany the refugee, so Theo travels to the coast with Julian, Kee, Miriam (the former midwife played by Pam Ferris) and Luke (Julian’s associate).  They are ambushed by a mob and Julian is killed, and while the rest of the group is hiding out at Fishes’ safe-house, Kee reveals to Theo that she is 8 months pregnant. Later that night, Theo overhears that Julian’s murder was arranged by the Fishes so that they could use Kee’s baby as political leverage. Theo awakes Kee and together with Miriam they escape the safe-house and head to hide out at the home of Theo’s friend, Jasper (Michael Caine). Jasper promises to help them meet a ship that will take them to a group that is dedicated to restoring human fertility called The Human Project. He arranges for his friend Syd to help them get into an immigrant camp and from there they will take a boat out to meet the Human Project ship, the Tomorrow.  The Fishes find Jasper’s hidden home and Jasper gives Theo his car to escape. As they are escaping, Theo watches as Jasper is murdered by the Fishes. With Syd’s help, they make it into the refugee camp and are separated from Miriam. At this point, Kee is in labor and they meet a refugee woman, Marichka, who takes them somewhere hidden where Kee gives birth to a baby girl. An uprising breaks out in the camp and The Fishes arrive. They find Kee and Theo and take Kee and the baby, leaving Theo and Marichka to be executed. Under cover of the now intense fighting between the British forces and the Fishes, Theo and Marichka escape and rescue Kee from Luke, who attempts to shoot them. The three of them walk through the raging battle outside and the fighting stops as everyone stares in awe at the baby. They let them pass, the fighting resumes, and they make it to the rowboat and out into the harbor (Marichka stays behind of her own volition) and wait by the buoy rendezvous point for the Tomorrow. It is revealed that Theo was hit by a bullet in the abdomen, and he uses his last moments to teach Kee how to burp the baby. Kee tells Theo she will name the baby Dylan after his son and Theo looses consciousness just as the Tomorrow arrives.

In the beginning of the film, Theo has no hope. He lost his faith when he lost his son, but as he goes on this journey to help save Kee’s baby we see him regain it. This movie explores themes of immigration, infertility, hope, and faith. This premise of infertility can be seen as a metaphor for the fading sense of hope: The youngest person on earth dies, and the world is in turmoil but there is hope in Kee’s baby and our hero finds hope and purpose in his life. It seems as if Alfonso Cuaron used this idea of a fading sense of hope to perhaps explore the state of things we are living in now. Maybe he is saying that we need to fix the world we have broken. Throughout the film you can spot an animal in almost every shot. These are the peoples’ children now and we seem to be the only infertile species-we will perish while they are left in this mess (we did this to ourselves).

Through his creative decisions Cuaron makes a movie that seems so real, you can’t help but think after watching: can this really happen?  When we are introduced to our hero, Theo, he is in a café as Londoners are watching the news of the death of baby Diego. The de-saturated color tone of the film reflects Theo’s mood and the tone of society and we can see that although this is taking place in the future, it does not look futuristic. Although grimier and disordered, it has the general look of today’s society to make it relatable. It is technically classified as a “dystopian sci-fi,” but Cuaron strived to break out of the parameters of that genre.

Seconds after Theo walks out of the shop, a bomb tears the place apart. Right away we are able to see how the cinematography and sound design really helps to put you into the moment. The camera is following Theo at a distance (which it does throughout the movie, following behind him, tracking, etc) but gets closer to see his reaction to his near death experience and hear what he hears-everything is muted except for the ringing from the explosion, which continues all the way until he reaches his office job. When the sound goes out like that and we only hear ringing, it instills a feeling of anxiety in the viewer. This is also utilized when Julian gets shot in the car. The car scene also involves the most impressive “oner” in the movie. This film is full of long takes, since the absence of cuts are used to achieve a documentary-like feel (this is also enhanced though the extensive use of handheld/shaky camera techniques). These styles evoke cinema verite-which means truthful cinema. Cuaron wants you to believe this is reality.

There is an opera theme throughout the film that symbolizes both hope and grief. We hear it when Theo is mourning Julian in the woods, when Theo watches as Jasper is murdered, when Kee is giving birth, when Kee, Theo and the baby are walking through the stunned fighters in the refugee camp, and when the Tomorrow comes to rescue Kee. It transitions from moments of grief, to moments of hope at the end. The soundtrack and score connects you to the film emotionally, while the sound effects are used to keep you in the moment and make you as anxious and nervous as the characters on screen.

The camera is also used to heighten the audience’s senses by instilling fear and transporting you into the film’s world. One of the most intense scenes I have ever seen/felt in any movie is towards the end when our heroes are running through the streets of the refugee camp amidst the ongoing battle. We really feel like we are following Theo because of the shaky camera and it helps create the chaotic atmosphere. Not only that, but once again here is another extremely long take because it is very important nothing interrupts the audience’s connection with the scene (or else we wouldn’t feel as nervous and frightened). Blood splatters onto the lens at some point and it actually stays there for the next couple of minutes. If Theo looks at something the camera pans to what he is looking at an back (instead of cutting). Cuaron and Lubezki make it a point to take the audience on a journey with Theo and it experience what Theo is experiencing, while at the same time seeing his emotional journey by not always seeing things from his point of view but focusing on his reaction while things happen in the background. Back in the safehouse, we are with Theo as he is hiding behind a wall as he is listening to the Fishes’ plans for him and Kee. We feel as if we are hiding with him because there are no cuts to a two-shot of the conversing persons, but rather we only see them in the background as we would if we were there standing with Theo.

There is a magnificent shot that symbolizes the whole premise of hope and it is during the scene when the trio (Kee, Miriam, and Theo) stop at an abandoned school to wait for Syd. Kee is outside on the playground and inside, Miriam is telling Theo of her work as a midwife and all of the miscarriages she saw at the beginning of the infertility. We hear their conversation as we see a beautiful shot of Kee on the swing set through a broken window which symbolizes the fact that hope is shattered if Kee is lost-she is the last hope. Before this scene Theo says this: “I can’t really remember the last time I had any hope, and I certainly don’t remember when anybody else did either. Because really, since women stopped being able to have babies, what’s left to hope for?” Theo sees through that window that Kee truly is their last hope.

Not only does Children of Men take you on an exciting journey- it is a beautiful piece of art. All of the technical elements come together to create a film that is not only moving, but beautiful to look at and wonderful to experience.